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ReMark's Discipline Details

I work for a specialty chemical manufacturer. I do a little bit of everything from P&IDs to civil to architectural and structural.

Using

AutoCAD 2018

Join Date

Nov 2005

Location

Norwalk, CT USofA

Posts

46,502

You specified a sheet size of 210x297. How did you expect to draw something that is 300mm?

A long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away there only existed model space. At that time everything was placed in model space. That included the object(s) being drawn as well as all text, dimensions, title block and border. At some point AutoDesk introduced paper space layouts and expected users to place their title block and border in it (some users also include text and dimensions) and utilize a paper space viewport (analogous to a window) to view objects that were back in model space. These viewports would be assigned a scale not the objects in model space. The one constant is everything drawn in model space should be drawn at a scale of 1:1 (real world dimensions). It doesn't matter if you are drawing something the size of a postage stamp or something the size of a Boeing 777 Dreamliner.

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Eat brains...gain more knowledge!

I'm now a full member of the Society for the Promotion of Mediocrity in CAD. Standards? We don't need no stinkin' standards! Take whatever advice I offer and do the opposite.

SLW210's Discipline Details

Occupation

Design Draftsman

Discipline

Multi-disciplinary

Details

Mostly do drafting related to manufacturing. From doing site layouts with proposed updates, additions and renovations to be budgeted and submitted for bid, to updating and changing existing drawings to reflect maintenance and repair/revision work done on site.

You might try going through CADTutor Tutorials as a start. What you are looking for is "Page Setup", but there is more to it all than that, as mentioned by ReMark, are you only using Model Space or will you be using Paper Space (Layout Tab)?

Going through those tutorials should help you answer that.

“A narrow mind and a fat head invariably come on the same person” Zig Zigler

CyberAngel's Computer Details

CyberAngel's Discipline Details

Occupation

Civil Drafter

Discipline

Architectural

Details

Roofing and Waterproofing

Using

AutoCAD 2014

Join Date

Jul 2006

Location

Anywhere Else

Posts

1,138

When ReMark refers to a template, he means a drawing that has all your working settings, objects, styles, etc. included, so you don't have to start from scratch every time. When you create a drawing, you have the option to choose your template (you can also set it to use the same template automatically every time). A template is no different than any other drawing except for having the DWT extension.

Scale is one of the most difficult concepts in CAD. If you're drawing something actual size, you avoid most of the issues with scale.

You can turn the gridlines on and off with a function key (F7) or the ribbon or the status bar button or the GRID command. You usually have several choices about how to do things in AutoCAD, use the one you prefer. You can set the grid spacing with the DSETTINGS command or by right-clicking the grid button on the status bar.

Depending on your workflow, you can format your sheets in model space or paper space. Paper space is better if you are working to a scale or need multiple views of the same objects. If you need a title block that changes very little from sheet to sheet, consider a block object. You can add attributes to a block to include, for instance, text items with different contents for each sheet, such as title, sheet number, date, etc.

There's a steep learning curve with AutoCAD, but you'll save a lot of time in the long run. We're here to help.

You specified a sheet size of 210x297. How did you expect to draw something that is 300mm?

Just rounding up. I thought having the screen 297mm long and divided into 12 equal sections would be a bit difficult.

Many thanks for the explanation of model space v. Layouts, I appreciate your time and effort. The work I will be doing does not require drawing borders and Title boxes showing scale etc. My AutoCAD drawings will be used to feed in to a CNC machine for woodworking. So it looks like I will be working in model space

Just rounding up. I thought having the screen 297mm long and divided into 12 equal sections would be a bit difficult.

Nope, easy peasy lemon squeezy.

Here's an exercise.
Draw a horizontal line 297 mm long.
Type DIVIDE.
Select the line when prompted. Enter 12 when prompted. You now have 12 equal segments of the line marked with a series of points.
Draw a 210 mm line perpendicular from one end point of the first line. (Ortho on helps.)
Divide that line by however many segments you wish.
Now you can COPY the first two lines to each point (node) and the other line end points, making a grid.
Or, you can use OFFSET > Through
Or, you can use ARRAY but that is fairly intimidating the first time you see it, but you'll learn to love it real soon.

The point is there are roughly 3 to 43 ways to skin every cat in AutoCad.

Things that will help with DIVIDE:
Make sure object snap is ON.
Run OSNAP and check Node so you can snap to the points now on your line.
Set up a new POINTS layer with a contrasting color and make it current before running DIVIDE.
Execute PDMODE and set it to 2. This will give your points a visible shape, a cross. PDMODE set to zero gives you only a tiny little dot that cannot be zoomed into. It is really only a node.
Execute PDSIZE and set your point size to something easy to see, like 5 mm or bigger. PDMODE = 0 cannot be resized.
Points are erasable but you can only snap to the point node itself.

The S197 gen Ford Mustang, and the F-4 Phantom both prove the same theory. "With enough power applied, a school bus will fly."